What is perhaps most notable about playing online casino games, is the fact that players who love a gamble, can indulge in their favourite games. They can play these games any time of the day or night, 365, and they can play them for free, for as little as a penny a pop, or even for high rolling wagers. Just about everyone likes taking a gamble …it is a universal pastime, with no one culture, not having a list of games they indulge with a flutter. Advanced technology has brought any and every gambling game known to man, into the convenience and comfort of our living rooms. Now we may even play casino online games wherever we go with the advancement of mobile gambling.

The British online gambling industry has fast advanced into massive demand, for a product which appears to be recession-proof, and now hosts a sophisticated audience. This is the epitome of the online gambling industry, where the world is sitting up, taking notice and emulating industry leading concepts. It is paradoxical in fact that the UK is leading the way, while the USA falls further behind by the day. This is not for want of trying, millions of US gamers across the board, from poker players to Pachinko, want these games online. The government however is at loss of how to control it sufficiently well to allow online gambling inside their borders. The scary thing is that in the land of the ‘free’, these are a series of games which residents are simply not free to play.

While it is fine for a US resident to purchase prescription drugs (without prescription) online and pay with their credits cards, they are not allowed to swipe their card in an attempt to bag a prize playing bingo. One of the softest gambling games known to man! This ‘banning’ of online gambling is in an attempt to ‘protect the public’ I ask you with tears in my eyes – does it not matter where the Viagra and even worse comes from? But a game of online poker for money is a criminal offence – something Joe Public cannot be trusted to spend his ‘own’ hard earned money on.

UK players who gamble at casino online games, do so under the protection of a regulated market; this also offers them the option to continue to pursue their faith in their favourite brands. While US players who are tempted (and many are) have to play with illegal brands; many which may not be above board. So, in the UK we have super choices and the country with one of the most massive choices in consumerism, has very little choice at all. There is no coin toss needed to see who has it better – the US or the UK? This massive ‘Superpower’ is going to find itself, hanging onto Britain’s red-coat-tails, if and when they ever legalize casino online games.

It has been touch and go for years for some of the best online casinos in the world; what with the American market looking so exciting to operators, and yet it not really being legal to offer these games. Operators argued that UIGEA contained too many grey areas and this is how they justified continuing to accept US players. Bodog is just such a site, but how they escaped US Department of Justice notice, since this authority closed down PokerStars, FullTilt and other gambling sites in the US; I really don’t?!

These sites were closed for business after their domains were seized by the DoJ on the 15th April. Gambling operators and fans alike, have dubbed this day ‘Black Friday’. So far it does not seem as though the best online casinos were affect, but the best poker sites certainly were and now one of the last men standing is getting out of the game. Bodog Europe is a very well-known online brand, and a modicum of their notoriety is garnered by the fact that they still accept US players. Up until now these real money gamblers have not been considered persona non grata. From the end of 2011 however this will change and no longer will any players from this country be allowed to use their accounts. At least they have been given time to close accounts and withdraw funds, unlike member of Full Tilt, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. Bodog has also taken out a brand new license and been granted this by the UK Gambling Commission, and this is unusual in itself, as most operators choose to license offshore to escape the massive tax implications of running a gambling operation in the UK. But that is another story entirely.

Another implication for US players is – they will have to be extremely careful where they play, if they do. It could give rise to a spate of new charlatans coming online, in an attempt to part hard working Americans from their gambling money. Americans want to be able to gamble online, but the Government can’t see the woods for the trees and believe that they know better what residents should be allowed to partake of in the ‘land of the free’. Aaron Burr once said that freedom of speech in the USA was only as free as the politician they are allowed to repeat?!

Anyway – that all said and done, Bodog is on their way to concentrate completely on the UK and European market and US players are losing one of the last best online casinos – at least until these operations go legal, if this ever takes place.

In 2006, the United States Government passed a law we now call UIGEA. This is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, and short of actually making online gambling in this country clearly illegal, it totally confuses matters. The Act is tagged onto an obscure Wire Act – dated 1961? – which is relevant to the transfer of funds over the airwaves or something. It essentially makes things really difficult regarding credit card payments and also e-wallet transactions.

Financial institutions are penalized severely for allowing online gambling transactions to take place. Then a swoop on the four major US online poker sites took place on the 15th April 2011, this was the ultimate death knell for most online gambling in the US. There are very few site who wish to go to the trouble to offer games to US players any longer, and even BODOG has pulled out of the US industry as of the end of this year.

Any US online casinos still left operating are taking a very big chance – who knows when they might not also have their domains seized. It is drastically unfair, against World free trade principles, and completely paradoxical that the United States of America considers itself to be a government whose people are living in “the land of the free”. To all intents and purposes online gambling laws in this country are to protect people from themselves, or to be completely brutal – from their own stupidity. Honestly it is all just about money, and about this government wanting ‘total’ control.

Back in the 1930′s Ayn Rand said “We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force”, and UIGEA is only one example of this type of control.

While the rest of the civilized world has realized online gambling is here to stay, the US Government is being manipulated by money, or should I say – their lack of ability to manipulate this industry’s money. But let me get off my soap box.

Suffice it to say that US online casinos don’t have it good as far as free trade is concerned. Online payment processing companies are struggling to find more loop-holes and the DoJ is closing in on all big operators. Any US player wanting to gamble online is then also now taking a risk. When a mainstream industry is made illegal in this way, there are always bootleggers out there trying to make a fast buck. This means no regulation, and no recourse for any US online gamer who is willing to take even more of a risk. Sadly even online casino listings which promote US sites, are – in good conscience – dropping long-time clients as fast as hot-cakes. Essentially folks, if you gamble online in the US, you are taking a really big chance.

On recently reading the Gore Vidal fictionalization of the life, duel with Hamilton and trial for treason of the controversial 19th century VP of the USA, Aaron Burr; there is one comment the writer claims Burr makes about freedom of speech. He says something like – I can’t remember verbatim – “US citizens have the freedom to speak as long as they are saying what politicians say they may say”! It brings to mind the issues of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and the fact that this law purportedly prevents US players from enjoying online casino games.

The law is ambiguous, convoluted and confusing to say the least; with tons of “grey” areas, and a Department of Justice which maintains that all online gambling activities, anywhere in the US are illegal. However, online poker has just been inadvertently legalised in Washington D.C. under the guise of one of the lottery operators of that city, while Washing State goes to war against payment processors.

Some online casino games are still available for US players’, in particular those operating from the Real Time Gaming software platform, and the big private online poker operators have grown to immense proportions post-promulgation of UIGEA. The belief is that these online casino games operators have not been indicted by the Department of Justice, simply because of the fact that this law will not hold much water in court.

Obviously there are many US citizens who would like to have the choice to play online casinos games legally and without restriction of freedom; they don’t play because of a natural fear of the law. On the flip side of the coin it would not be practical for the Dept. of Justice to indict every single US player who indulges in illegal online gambling. The trend seems to be that the Dept of Justice indicts companies who have admitted they have traded in online casino games after UIGEA was enacted; however, unless a firm or individual completely rolls-over, the only legal argument which seems to hold weight is when prosecutors target online payment processors. Apparently UIGEA was also passed into statue with no Senate debate and this also raises questions. This in a nutshell paints a quick portrait of how odd the law actually is.

One of the brilliant things about playing at casinos online is the fact that the handicapped, the elderly and other house-bound people, the ill and the isolated; have access to some light entertainment. Online bingo players for example, love these games and the social interaction they receive at their favorite sites.

Despite the fact that many organizations and lawmakers have kicked up a fuss regarding UIGEA and want it booted out; this call goes on being ignored. In the meantime – are people who are in the minority, who want to play legal online casino games; having their rights or freedoms to speak, to associate and do what they like with their own time and money, restricted?

The debate still rages in the US over the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). While some senate officials see it as a good thing, the more forward thinking senators realize that this act is ridiculous and should either be scrapped or amended to provide a more regulatory law rather than this outright ban. But what does this mean to the internet gambling fan in the US?

The basic tenets of the law make it appear that online gambling is illegal, and while gambling of any kind is banned in some states, online gambling in these states would also be illegal. For the rest of the states however, online gambling per se is not illegal, it is the financial transacting between the gambler, the bank and the site which this law interferes with.

UIGEA effectively caused 2 003 US sites to look to other shores for their income, rather than wade through the maze of financial intricacies it caused. Major banks’ were forced to stop processing payments and this us why credit cards issued in the US, won’t transact at internet gambling sites.

Neteller was one of the safest and most efficient ways for US players online to make and receive payments from these sites, and UIGEA messed with them also. The Caribbean lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization to the effect that this law violated trade accords, as did the European Union, and yet, no satisfactory response from the US is or has been forthcoming.

There are many internet gambling sites which won’t deal with US players because of the red tape involved, however, there a number of sites which won’t back down and they continue to ply their trade with US players. Companies such as 888.com completely pulled out of the US and have become incredibly successful in the UK and European markets, whereas European company Bodog, still offers services to US players.

Various new and more sophisticated ewallets are available and these also help for US players to make real money transactions online. How this works, I am not really clear, but work it does.

Internet gambling is one of the biggest cash cows in terms of online business. It generally falls into four distinct categories; online poker, online bingo, sports betting and online casinos. However in recent times, more arcade games have become monetized and sites are specializing games such as monetized backgammon too.

Every single one of these real money internet gambling options has a way of offering games to the US market. It really is as simple as conducting a search for “Internet gambling US players”. To find a site which will suit you; gambling is and always has been one of those industries which has been strictly regulated, because the big profits it generates. So in the years since the US has had UIGEA in place; the amount of tax revenue they have been unable to tap into has been quite substantial. Perhaps this has been the reason for them suffering such a poor economy in recent times?

Online gambling sites are facing innumerable challenges from the law makers of certain countries to curtail their activities striking at the very root of them. The main contention of those who oppose to online gambling is that the sites are not following fair and ethical trade practices in accepting wagers in monies whether it is U.S. dollars or in Euros. 

The same argument goes for collection of revenues due to the tax collection authorities of these governments, unlike in the case of offline gambling casinos and clubs where the very physical presence of the outlets enables checking evasion of any tax liabilities.  This is countered by the supporters of online gambling sites, their associations and legal representatives that adequate checks and balances are already there, adopted by the websites to ensure fair-play in these matters and online gambling should be allowed to carry on business unobtrusively.

There is another dimension emerging on the legal wrangles between online gambling sites and authorities of law-making.  This is completely concerned with online betting on sports events. There are quite a large number of online gambling sites engaged purely on betting of monies on an array of sports like soccer, tennis, cricket, baseball and the like.  The monetary transactions on these betting on sports run into trillions of dollars and Euros annually.

For decades earlier in the western countries, betting on sports events has been going on even before the introduction of the Internet.  Like Inter-venue betting on horse racing, the gambling outfits were accepting wagers from the punters of their neighborhood on major sports events across the world, wherever they were held.  The size and measure of betting were enlarged to proportions of unimaginable magnitude when the cyber-world came into being.  Sitting at home any one had the facility of betting on the favorite side of any sports easily and all the wagering monies when pooled together offered an attractive dividend to each punter’s bet on winning.  This gradually grew into giving room for complaints from many quarters that pre-fixing the results of the events by manipulation of vested interests and unfair and unethical practices of gambling had started in the business.

In this background the latest complaint has come up against online betting of Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments such as French Open.  The organizers of French Open have opened up a landmark case in the Liege court of Eastern Belgium and Parris claiming that the online betting sites have stained the reputation of the championship tournament on the clay-court of Roland Garros.
The French Tennis Federation has claimed that the very integrity of the Tennis match is at stake because of such unethical practices being followed by the organizations of online betting.  They have cited many instances of foul-play in the trade, including a glaring example, which took place in August 2007 in one of the major tennis match held in Poland.  Their claim is backed by declarations of players that they were approached for fixing matches with hefty sums of money offered. The law suit is against three popular betting organizations, and praying for an injunction to stop making betting on French Open and fine of large amount for violation on a daily basis.  The sports lovers and players of online bets eagerly await the outcome of this landmark case which will have a very wide impact on the online betting industry.

The European Commission’s regulatory arm has gone to the extent of opening an investigation regarding the German law; according to Oliver Drewes (commission spokesman) – “The government soon will decide whether Germany broke EU laws, for regulators are aware of the gambling groups’ concerns”. Now, with the commission and the European courts’ orders on the EU member countries for not – in any way – restricting legal gambling businesses, the law has taken a twist to controversies and European Government officials are gearing up to push ahead against the German as well as other EU states in the gambling sector with legal actions.
 
Sigrid Ligne (secretary general, EGBA) made his statement clear – “We urge the Commission now to fast track our complaint and launch infringement proceedings against Germany.” The actions have also been taken to stop financial losses from occurring to several related industries e.g. Aftonbladet, Sweden’s largest daily newspaper that generates revenues that is more than a million dollars every month from online gambling ads. The newspaper has asked Commissioner McCreevy to speed up the process against the gambling restrictions. However, if Brussels join the bandwagon of protestors against Germany, there are high chances that the European Court of Justice shall fine and force the country for changing its laws.

So an independent audit was run in which participated a total of 100 UK-based online gambling companies. The results revealed a better state than before on the context of marked improvements in customer service. It’s for sure they didn’t want to gamble with their revenues and proved once again that the brewery-owner is essentially a teetotaller. Though the report kept the fact hidden between the lines, but it shall be unfair to claim that they didn’t commend these gambling sites for winning over other sectors in the UK market; namely, retailers and broadband service providers. What were the areas that came under the inspection? The audit marked the sites on different key grounds on which the improvements occurred. The first one is on the grounds of being tech-savvy (live chat and security issues); secondly, it is on the basis of performance on the other aspects (e.g. accuracy, response speed etc.). A whopping 61% from last year’s 7% and Talisma, one of UK’s leading customer interaction management solutions providers is now adding a few more to the existing list of questions for a better assessment in the future. They expect the responses could have been more accurate (perfectionist’s syndrome?) that way and would have revealed more than the 12% increase in offering an online chat facility by the sites or the fact that 90% of the telephone calls are answered within less than ten seconds or the improved email support that went from 60% in 2006 to 74%. May we have a glimpse of what was asked? Sure! But since we cannot provide the exact transcriptions, we shall swan the subjects on which the questions were set. 

• The minimum deposit/bet amount to open an account.

• Choice of currency to open an account.

• Various customer service criterions.

• Areas of improvement, inclusive of responsiveness, personalisation, newer channels for interactions, information accuracy and a few more.

• Tracking previous correspondences with past customers.

 When asked about their feedbacks on the survey, Jon McNerney (Vice president, International operations, Talisma) commented – “While it is encouraging that the UK online gambling sector has significantly improved customer service in 2007 there is still huge scope for improvement. In a growing competitive market, customer acquisition and retention is the key. UK gambling websites have a global customer base that wants easy access to information and immediate responses to enquiries, particularly when their money is quite literally at stake. Gambling websites need to evolve a customer-focused strategy that provides high quality, round the clock support and empowers agents to manage an increasing number of interactions across a growing number of communication channels.” However, improvement shall set its position as a constant as technology progresses and since there exist further chances of improvements in terms of online knowledge base and personalized phone calls, the day is not very far to see Talisma wearing an extra feather on its laurel.

As an eventual sequence of offline gambling, like horse racing, lotteries, sports events, Bingo, casinos, slot machines, roulette and Poker and so on, the scenario changed to the inevitable Internet in 1995.  The U.S. Company launched the website with comparatively a fraction of the investment needed for starting a Casino in Nevada in millions of dollars.  With just 17 employees it managed the show to run with 18 different casino games.  Just from this starting point there was no looking back and the proliferation of hundreds of institutions jumping the band-wagon of running websites for online gambling continued.  Interestingly governments of foreign countries evinced interest on opening their own sites for conducting online lotteries in multi-various languages with an eye on the abundance of potential existing for online gambling and millions of dollars on revenue just for the taking. 

In 1996, the Stock Market of U.S. announced listing of the stocks of online gambling ventures and this opened up the awareness among many others as well that what online gambling is all about and what is in it for them.  A large contingent of U.S. gambling organizations running their outfits in their localities joined the stream by extending their activities on the cyber-world.  The profit margins published were amazing – while the entrepreneurs were accustomed to 8 to 16% margins in their real world casinos after the laborious tasks involved being handled tactfully, the net-world gains were over 24% by the U.S. Company started the game.  In the first year itself another Company netted a turnover of $48 million which was so glaring too many eyes.

The U.S. federal governments did not keep quiet, perhaps by the lobbying of the vested interests and woke up to curtail the run-away success of online gambling, for fear of loss of revenue actually due to them.  Almost all the U.S. States formulated laws to regularize the online gambling transactions, declaring them illegal and transfer of funds for wagering by financial institutions inside the country was stringently curbed.  The legal jargon as usual was elaborate to cripple the activities of online gambling sites. 

This necessitated the online institutions to circumvent the procedures of incorporation of gambling establishments by registering in other countries and conducting financial transactions in banks of offshore and online net-banks.  This made the efforts of imposition of restrictions futile and the online gambling goes on unabated with the support of netizens the world-wide and also Americans with offshore bank accounts.

Even by a conservative estimate, a staggering 20 million people take part in some of the online gambling games.  Judging by the growth in the last decade in all the countries, where more and more people are fancied by the online games and also the potential existing for expansion of online gambling sites, it is estimated that by the year 2020 there will be a mammoth population of 160 million people playing online gambling.  The overall market that is to be tapped in the years to come is projected to be a scintillating $49 billion.

So by any yardstick, online gambling is very healthy and will go up by leaps and bounds in the years to come.

In the legality muddle of online gambling the battle is going on and on tirelessly between the governments and online gambling sites.  The tussle between the interested parties belonging to national levels centers mainly on one thing.  Is it justified to ban the online gambling transactions, while more than 54 nations have legalized the same world-wide.  On moral or ethical grounds can any government authority curb the individual right of the online gambling game players?  This is the million dollar question….nay trillion dollar question to be resolved once and for all.  As for the U.S. restrictions on offshore operations of online gambling is concerned, it all started just 4 years back in 2003 when the two Caribbean nations of Antigua and Barbuda filed a petition before the World Trade Organization, opposing the arbitrary ban imposed by the U.S. laws, curtailing the offshore operations of online gambling sites.   These two nations had much in stake to lose by the ban of the mighty U.S. by intervening into their business.  Online gambling was the cash cow for revenue for these tiny island nations and they can’t afford to forfeit the income just because a powerful neighbor objects to it.  Early in the 1990s there were nearly 100 sites engaged in online gambling business, employing around 5000 employees.  It was a major part of their economy and arising out of the imposition of U.S. ban, it dwindled gradually to less than 40 companies in 2003 and these nations cited these points in support of their petition before the WTO. They submitted that they are ensuring strict vigilance on online gambling operations and that there is no need for interfering with the operations, inasmuch as it amounted to violation of commitments made by any country towards cross-border services.  Thereupon WTO appointed a three member panel to go into the matter and to decide whether the U.S. crackdown amounts to violations of justified international trade practices. The U.S. law enforcing officials submitted a counter stating that online gambling does not come under the purview of their commitments to such trade practices; that there is large scope of money laundering through online gambling operations; and that allowing online gambling would create serious social problems in the society with dangers of psychological problems to a segment thereof. After detailed deliberations and hearing the views of both the parties concerned, the panel of WTO gave its ruling in December 2007 that U.S. crackdown amounts to violation of the accepted norms for world trade practices within countries and awarded a compensation of US$21 million per year to Antigua and Barbuda. Not satisfied with the amount of compensation awarded, the two island nations are making further efforts for striking a deal with U.S. authorities at the highest level.  With this objective, a high level delegation headed by Dr. Cort, Minister of Finance and Economy has started a meeting with the U.S. Ambassador for Trade Representations.  Dr. Cort stated that while they are satisfied with the ruling of the WTO Panel in awarding compensation, the quantum is insufficient – when compared to their original claim of US$ 304 million. Also restricting the compensation to only horse racing which is just 10% of the online gambling operations, according to Dr. Cort, is disappointing.  The outcome of this high level summit is eagerly awaited by relevant circles of online gambling industry.